Transfersome nanocarriers containing antibacterial drugs as a therapeutic potential for skin infectious diseases
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moloud shahzeidi,1,*
1. Department of Animal Biotechnology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, Isfahan, Iran.
- Introduction: Drug delivery to skin using topical ointments as a non-invasive treatment has several advantages, including effective and continuous local release as well as being easy applicable and cost-beneficial for patient. Despite of these advantages, the stratum corneum, which acts as a defense layer, prevents the penetration of small molecules smaller than 500 daltons. For larger molecules, such as organic chemicals, nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems are more suitable. Bacterial infections caused by impaired immune systems are one of the most prevalent causes of chronic skin infections, resulting in prolonged inflammation, immunological responses of host cells, infectious extension, and cytokine release at the site of the damage. Ferulic acid (FA), a chemical with a wide range of physiological effects (anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic), protects the skin's basal structures, increases angiogenesis, and supports wound healing. For this reason, it is widely used in skin care formulations as a light protective agent, delaying the aging process of the skin and as a skin-lightening component. Here, the synthesis of a FA-transferosome is developed for proper skin delivery of FA.
- Methods: FA-Transfersomes was prepared by a conventional rotary evaporation method, the appropriate weight of lipid, surfactant, and ferulic acid were dissolved in a methanol/chloroform solution (1:2, v/v) in a round-bottom flask. Thin lipid films were obtained by removing the organic solvents under vacuum conditions. The resultant dry lipid films on the inside wall of the round bottom flask were hydrated and dispersed with PBS. With the bath sonicatator and prob sonication, we have made small unilamellar transfersomes. Then synthetized transfersomes were evaluated to define their morphology, entrapment efficiency, and antimicrobial propertise.
- Results: FA-Transfersomes had a particle size of about 350 nm and an entrapment efficiency of approximately 50%. The results showed that the zeta potential was negative. The minimum effective dose of the transfersomal formulation against Staphylococcus aurous was more than 300 µg/mL.
- Conclusion: Nano-vesicles with their bilayer structures could pass through or merge with the outer membrane of the microorganism, which leads to the better drug delivery. In this study we showed that the encapsulation of FA may enhance its antibacterial effects against bacterial strains such as staphylococcus aurous. Our findings showed that an optimized FA-transfersome formulation could decrease the minimum inhibitory concentration of the drug and improve its efficacy against microbial pathogens.
- Keywords: Nanocarrier, Transfersome, Ferulic acid, Skin, Nanomedicine
